On April 7 and 8, a conference was held at Hamilton College on the legacy of Alexander Hamilton and his island birthplace of Nevis, a former British colonial holding in the Caribbean. The conference featured Nevisians, including Hamilton alumni Carlton Dasent '70 and Keithley Woolward '01, speaking about the island nation and the legacy of Alexander Hamilton.
Edward North Professor of Classics Carl Rubino, who is currently teaching a Sophomore Seminar on "Cicero, Hamilton and Jefferson" with Maynard-Knox Professor of Government Frank Anechiarico, opened the conference by introducing the island of Nevis and Alexander Hamilton.
Nevis is a 36-square-mile island, just west of Antigua in the Caribbean, with a population of around 10,000. In 1757, Alexander Hamilton, American founding father, first Secretary of the Treasury and original trustee of Hamilton College, was born on Nevis. In 1997, a group of Hamilton alumni, trustees and faculty went to Nevis, renewing the connection between the College and its founder's birthplace. Professor Rubino traveled to Nevis last year in preparation for teaching the "Cicero, Hamilton and Jefferson" Sophomore Seminar, and decided to bring a little bit of Nevis back to College Hill.
DAY ONE
The conference opened with the Hamilton College Buffers singing "Al Ham," the a capella group's traditional song commemorating Alexander Hamilton's contributions to the College.
Historian and political scientist Vincent Hubbard, a resident of Nevis and author of Swords Ships and Sugar: A History of Nevis to 1900, spoke about the economic situation of the island in the 1750s and 60s, when Alexander Hamilton was a child.
The economy of Nevis has long been based around the sugar plantation industry, and in the mid-1700s it was very lucrative. Between 1715 and 1719, when the British government levied a 4.5 percent tax on its colonies, the continental American colonies combined brought in tax revenues of 380,000 pounds, while the group of islands including Nevis brought in 420,000 pounds.
Nevis alone was a greater source of tax revenue than the colony of New York for many years. The cost of the sugar industry was that almost all of the island's fertile land was planted in sugar, with small amounts left over for growing provisions and livestock. This one-crop economy made Nevis very dependent on its trading partners and on Britain.
Hubbard pointed out that Hamilton once noted the importance of diversity for strong and independent economies, a lesson he may have learned from his time on Nevis. Hubbard described how trade on Nevis was complex because of the various currencies circulating on the island. Each of the islands had its own currency, in addition to the few English coins that circulated through the region. Nevisians used Spanish currency as well, sometimes chopping the coins into smaller pieces to serve as small change. Individual islands would manipulate their exchange rates and devalue their currency in order to induce trade. Large amounts of sugar were also used as barter, with prices based on the value of last year's sugar crop.
Hubbard said that Alexander Hamilton would have experienced the complexity and problems of this system every time he went with his mother into Charlestown, the island's capital, to buy something as simple as new shoes. This experience probably influenced his desire to see standard currency in the United States and his creation of a Central Bank to keep currency production separate from political whim.
Joan Robinson, a historian at the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society, spoke about the lifestyle on Nevis in the time of Hamilton. Caribbean settlers from Europe, she said, never considered the islands their new homes in the way that Continental colonists did, perhaps because of the drastic differences in climate and lifestyle between Europe and the Caribbean. Absentee landowning was prevalent in the islands, with the plantation owners living back in England and leaving their land in the hands of overseers. Those who did live on the islands often sent their children back to England to be educated, meaning that schools did not develop on islands like Nevis as much as in the Continental colonies.
The main social institutions on Nevis were the five Anglican churches on the island, as well as a Jewish community. Robinson also described the young Hamilton's life on the island. His mother ran a provision store, and the family lived with their several slaves. Around age 10, the Hamilton family moved to St. Croix, where he began working in a store there. There he developed his business and management skills, which gained him the attention of Scottish businessman Hugh Knox, who later sent him to receive an education in North America. In America, Hamilton encouraged the manumission of slaves during the Revolutionary War, and later became the economic mastermind behind the country's tax scheme and monetary policy.
Amba Trott is a playwright and actor, originally from Montreal, who now lives in and runs the Hamilton House Art Center in Nevis. His family has lived in the Hamilton House, which stands next to the site of the original Hamilton family home where Alexander was born, since 1950. Trott told the story of how his parents came to live there and turn it into a destination for tourists as well as a community center for the island. Trott has carried on his parents' tradition, turning the house into the Hamilton House Art Center, which produces short plays and recitals of local talent.
Lornette Hanley and John Guilbert, of the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society, spoke about the efforts to conserve the historical sights and structures of Charlestown. Hanley said that Charlestown is an excellent example of colonial Caribbean architecture, with many neoclassical and Georgian elements. The NHCS now concentrates on preserving the historical character and beauty of the island, in part by rebuilding the original Hamilton House in 1983 to serve as the historical museum for the island. Another historical attraction of the island is the Bath Hotel, the first hotel built for tourists in the Americas in 1778, which the NHCS is trying to make a World Heritage site.
DAY TWO
Hamilton alumni Keithley Woolward '01 and Carlton Dasent '70, both originally from Nevis, spoke about the connections they find between their lives in America and at Hamilton College and their lives in Nevis. Woolward told the story of how he found out about the great 1920s civil rights activist Cyril Briggs, originally from Nevis as well, through an Africana studies class he took at Hamilton in his freshman year. He said that this story reminded him that Nevis is a diasporic space – it sent out three sons, Hamilton, Briggs and Woolward – who all later reconnected.
Dasent recalled going to the Hamilton library to get a book on West Indian history, and finding that the librarian knew neither what the West Indies were, nor that they had a history, pointing out the irony that few Hamiltonians know much about the land that bore the founder of the College. Dasent also spoke about his experience growing up on Nevis, and the unique character of education that was based in the church and in colonial politics.
During a question and answer session with members of the audience, the panelists discussed potentially creating a structure to permanently link Nevis with Hamilton College, including having more Nevisian students and sponsoring College trips to the island.
The conference closed with a performance by Amba Trott of "Ode to Alexander Hamilton," a dramatic monologue and song written for performance at the annual commemoration of Hamilton's birthday held at the Hamilton House. The piece tells the story of Alexander Hamilton and his connection to Nevis.
The Hamilton and Nevis Conference was sponsored by the President's Office, the Dean of the Faculty, the departments of government, history, Africana studies and classics, and the Kirkland Project.
-- by Caroline O'Shea '07
